biopsych Flashcards
What are the two hemispheres of the brain joined by?
The corpus callosum
The corpus callosum is made up of bundles of nerve fibers.
What is the function of the corpus callosum?
To allow communication between the hemispheres of the brain.
What does it mean that the brain is contralateral?
The left hand side of the body is controlled by the right hemisphere and vice versa.
What structure is made up of bundles of nerve fibers?
The corpus callosum.
True or False: The left hemisphere controls the left side of the body.
False.
Fill in the blank: The brain is divided into 2 _______.
[hemispheres]
What event in 1848 questioned the holistic theory of the brain?
The case of Phineas Gage
What caused the injury to Phineas Gage’s brain?
A metal rod flew behind his eye, causing a hole in his frontal lobe
What changes occurred in Phineas Gage after his injury?
His planning skills changed and he became more aggressive
Who studied brain structure by looking at brains postmortem?
Broca and Wernicke
What did Broca and Wernicke find that allowed them to identify specific parts of the brain?
Anatomical differences and damage
What is the theory of localisation of function?
Certain parts of the brain have specific functions
How does localisation of function oppose the holistic theory?
Localisation states that specific parts of the brain are responsible for specific activities, while holistic theory suggests all parts are involved in all activities
Where is the motor cortex located?
In the back of the frontal lobe
What is the primary function of the motor cortex?
To send signals to direct the body’s voluntary movement
Where is the somatosensory cortex located?
At the front of the parietal lobe
What type of information does the somatosensory cortex receive?
Tactile information including sensations such as touch, pressure, temperature, and pain
Where are the visual centres located?
In the occipital lobe
What functions are associated with the visual centres?
- Visuospatial processing
- Distance and depth perception
- Colour determination
- Face and object recognition
- Memory formation
Where are the auditory centres located?
In the temporal lobe
What is the primary function of the auditory centres?
To process auditory information
What hemisphere are the language centres localized and lateralized to?
Left hemisphere
What does Broca’s area allow for?
Speech production
What is the function of Wernicke’s area?
Language comprehension
What can happen if a person has damage to Wernicke’s area?
Fluent speech but jumbled words
Who identified the area linked to speech production in the 1880s?
Broca
What is the result of damage to Broca’s area?
‘Broca’s aphasia’
Describe the speech characteristics of ‘Broca’s aphasia’.
Slow, laborious and lacking in fluency
Who was the case study associated with Broca’s area?
Tan
What was unique about Tan’s speech?
‘Tan’ was the only word he could say
What did Carl Wernicke discover about speech production?
People could produce speech but struggled to understand it
What is ‘Wernicke’s aphasia’ characterized by?
Adding nonsense words into sentences
Fill in the blank: Damage to Wernicke’s area results in _______.
‘Wernicke’s aphasia’
What does lateralisation of the brain refer to?
The concept that the two hemispheres of the brain have different functions.
Which hemisphere of the brain typically houses language functions?
The left hemisphere.
What is the function of the corpus callosum?
To pass information between the two hemispheres of the brain.
What is the split-brain procedure?
A research method where the brain hemispheres are separated by cutting the corpus callosum.
In Sperry’s split-brain research, what could people explain about images in their left visual field?
They could explain that they see an image because information passes from the right hemisphere to the left hemisphere’s language centers.
What was the aim of Sperry’s split-brain research?
To show that the hemispheres of the brain had different functions.
Fill in the blank: Information about what happens in one hemisphere can be passed to the other through a bundle of fibres called _______.
corpus callosum
True or False: The right hemisphere is responsible for language functions.
False
What operation did Sperry study in patients to control epileptic seizures?
Cutting the corpus callosum
This operation prevents communication between the two hemispheres of the brain.
What was the primary result of cutting the corpus callosum?
Information from one hemisphere could be communicated to the other for processing
This separation allowed for individual study of each hemisphere’s functions.
What did the operation allow researchers to access?
The function of each hemisphere individually
This was crucial for understanding lateralization of brain functions.
What was the main focus of Sperry’s procedure for split-brain research?
To study the effects of split-brain on visual processing and communication between hemispheres
How many participants were involved in Sperry’s split-brain research?
11 participants
What task were participants asked to perform during the split-brain procedure?
Stare at a fixed dot on a screen
What was presented to the participants in the right visual field?
An image (processed by the left hemisphere)
What was presented to the participants in the left visual field?
The same or different images (processed by the right hemisphere)
What were participants asked to do with the images they saw?
Name what they saw
What could participants do if they were unable to verbally name the image?
Draw with the correlating hand
Fill in the blank: In Sperry’s research, images presented in the right visual field are processed by the _______.
left hemisphere
Fill in the blank: In Sperry’s research, images presented in the left visual field are processed by the _______.
right hemisphere
What is the limitation of split brain patients regarding objects in their left visual field?
Split brain patients cannot name objects in their left visual field
Which hemisphere processes information from the left visual field in split brain patients?
Right hemisphere (RH)
Where are language centers located in relation to split brain patients?
Language centers are based in the left hemisphere (LH)
What can split brain patients do with items presented to their left visual field despite not being able to name them?
They can recognize and choose the item
How does the right hemisphere assist split brain patients with items in the left visual field?
The RH allows them to ‘understand’ the object and make choices based on meaning
Which hemisphere is dominant for facial recognition?
Right hemisphere (RH)
